Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean

by Joshua M. White

The 1570s marked the beginning of an age of pervasive piracy in the Mediterranean that persisted into the eighteenth century. Nowhere was more inviting to pirates than the Ottoman-dominated eastern Mediterranean. In this bustling maritime ecosystem, weak imperial defenses and permissive politics made piracy possible, while robust trade made it profitable. By 1700, the limits of the Ottoman Mediterranean were defined not by Ottoman territorial sovereignty or naval supremacy, but by the reach of imperial law, which had been indelibly shaped by the challenge of piracy.

Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean is the first book to examine Mediterranean piracy from the Ottoman perspective, focusing on the administrators and diplomats, jurists and victims who had to contend most with maritime violence. Pirates churned up a sea of paper in their wake: letters, petitions, court documents, legal opinions, ambassadorial reports, travel accounts, captivity narratives, and vast numbers of decrees attest to their impact on lives and livelihoods. Joshua M. White plumbs the depths of these uncharted, frequently uncatalogued waters, revealing how piracy shaped both the Ottoman legal space and the contours of the Mediterranean world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

376 pages, Hardcover

Published November 28, 2017

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really clear, concise book on navigating legal structures in the early modern Mediterranean in regards to piracy from the vantage point of the Ottoman Empire. White explains how treaties (ahdnames) between European ports and the Ottoman Empire, and fatwahs affected piracy and corsairs. The author also details the legal process that had to be maneuvered when trying to reclaim property that had been pillaged. Within these structures, legal representatives and Islamic leaders such as kadis, jurists, and şeyhülislams determined and enforced laws, trades, treaties, and oversaw the court system and appeals process.

White utilizes a number of primary sources to explain and discuss examples of cases that occurred between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I was impressed with how well this is written for a wide range of readers, including those with only a cursory understanding of piracy and corsairs during this age. The system could be complicated especially when ships come in and out of ports within and outside of the Ottoman Empire. Laws were different depending on where a ship might be from, where they were when captured, if the captains were Muslim or Christian, and even if you were male or female. Who ended up with the ship could also cause a problem when trying to reclaim ships and booty. But the law was generally clear, complicated, but clear. White navigates it all very succinctly.